Stagnation / Redevelopment vs. Strategic Investment

[Phantom Mickey]

I really think HS could have been more developed in the 90s if it wasn't for corporate disagreements. MGM was there only in the name and Great Movie Ride for years until TCM happened. Roger Rabbit was supposed to have more of a presence, but Disney got into a disagreement over the character with Spielberg. Then Muppet Courtyard had been planned to include The Great Muppet Movie Ride as well as two restaurants, but those were cancelled as well.

I'd think since the DISNEY name is known in picture creation that the Studious should have been able to exist under the DISNEY name alone.

While Disney definitely screwed up in not keeping the parks up to date, I think it's mostly to blame on the 'making movies' concept, and when they built the park in the 80s, they couldn't have known that 30 years later, we would have access to that ever we wanted online. The same goes for Future World. It was really too hard to keep up with rapidly changing technologies.

Sadly there have been signs of lack of maintenance throughout the years. Once the guest can see beyond the pixie dust, they start to see it.
Disney HAS tried internet. The original GO.Com was directly tied to Disney and Disney shut it down. It is now opened again but as a different type of site. DISNEY has historically ignored anything that the public has to say to them. Especially true when concerning attractions or media closing. They won't respond with anything other than a canned response.

I don't see why they need to rename the park. The Hollywood theme is still partially there. It's just going to be more about the movies than making them.

My thought is they want to start fresh and have the guest forget about the old theme. I suspect over the years the entire facade will be changed out to lose the STUDIOS look

 

[Phantom Mickey]

There seems to be a lot of talk about WDW parks getting "revitalized" and "redeveloped" and "re-imagined" lately. The Studios is essentially getting a DCA-style triple bypass surgery. Epcot is on the verge of some sort of... ummm... big thematic change. Downtown Disney took nearly a decade to settle on its redevelopment plans after sinking millions into failed designs and missed deadlines. I know long-term thinking isn't exactly common in mega corporations like Disney but there's got to be SOME sane people within the company that understands this isn't a sustainable way to do business.

If you have the means to build a beautiful house that you plan to live in and potentially resell, then a reasonable person would maintain the investment. They would update the fixtures every now and then, fix the roof, renovate the kitchen, upgrade the HVAC unit, and give it a fresh coat of paint every few years. What you WOULDN'T do is let it turn into Grey Gardens and spend years doing emergency repairs to prevent it from collapsing.

Disney's Hollywood Studios = Grey Gardens. It's been allowed to stagnate to such an extent that it essentially needs to be rebuilt. Millions upon millions will be spent and an immense amount of time and resources will be wasted trying to make it relevant again. Next up, Epcot's Future World.

You are seeing beyond the Magic curtain. I agree with you

 

[Phantom Mickey]

I agree, but DHS may deserve a pass. Had there not been a recession in our economy, the whole studio theme may still be in full effect and working. Once the real, living, working studio had to be shutdown, the park was exposed and thus got it to where we are today. Not giving it a full pass, but you can see how things went wrong here.

The closing of the studios DID have an impact on the park

 

[Phantom Mickey]

The entire concept behind DHS and the relationship with MGM that brought it into existence were dysfunctional and fractured before the park ever even opened. The Disney Renaissance, economic boom times in the 90s, and well timed additions to the park that were huge hits were enough to overcome its inauspicious history and keep it afloat and vibrant for over a decade before time and corporate chaos finally began to take its toll.

Exactly

 

[Princess Leia]

The working studio had to end because of all of the noise over at Catastrophe Canyon. It wasn't going to work to have it as an actual working studio.

 

[Phantom Mickey]

The working studio had to end because of all of the noise over at Catastrophe Canyon. It wasn't going to work to have it as an actual working studio.

HUH? Wouldn't it be easier to shut down Cat Canyon and cut the losses? Working studios can bring in millions.

 

[Princess Leia]

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...disney-channel-disney-mgm-disney-imagineering

 

[Bacon]

Personally I think if a park need a huge makeover, then something has been done wrong. There should always be a road map that allows the parks to evolve so that a extreme makeover is never actually needed.

Personally I think if a park need a huge makeover, then something has been done wrong. There should always be a road map that allows the parks to evolve so that a extreme makeover is never actually needed.

 

[Goofyernmost]

The working studio had to end because of all of the noise over at Catastrophe Canyon. It wasn't going to work to have it as an actual working studio.

What noise? I was in that park many, many times and I even knew about CC and believe me there was no sound coming from there at all, much less anything that would interfere with movie making. It died because they had a perfectly good place to film movies, a place called Hollywood. Why, would any star of any magnitude want to relocate to a Florida swamp when southern California offers all the same things. It just didn't work out.

 

[Christian Fronckowiak]

The working studio had to end because of all of the noise over at Catastrophe Canyon. It wasn't going to work to have it as an actual working studio.

Catastrophe Canyon caused the end of using the Backlot for production space, which is why SoA became part of the park with Honey I Shrunk, MuppetVision, and the planned Muppet Studios. The sound stages ended production around 2000 IIRC due to lack of filmmakers wanting people watching them. The animation studio shut down in 2003-4 when the animation studio went to CG.

 

[Next Big Thing]

What noise? I was in that park many, many times and I even knew about CC and believe me there was no sound coming from there at all, much less anything that would interfere with movie making. It died because they had a perfectly good place to film movies, a place called Hollywood. Why, would any star of any magnitude want to relocate to a Florida swamp when southern California offers all the same things. It just didn't work out.

Yet today Georgia is a hub for filming, in some ways, bigger than Hollywood.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I feel like the issue with the original idea of Disney's hollywood studios (This can also go with Universal studios) is that now mostly every film uses CGI heavily. back in the 70's-90's they still had to build sets and use a lot of actual effects. they can now make almost entire films entirely realistic CGI (See the live action remakes disney makes, Life of pi, Gravity, Avatar, ect.) the transition to films using CGI more probably was when DHS and Universal parks started having issues, so the effect of that is DHS needs an entirely different theme, and Universal parks rides are more screens then actual sets.

This. It is no longer interesting to see - in physical form - how a movie is made. Sound, special effects, animation (each a former DHS attraction): they are nowadays made by some bearded post-hipster behind a computer. The main interesting aspect is what kind of bizarrely named coffee he will drink this day.

 

[Next Big Thing]

This. It is no longer interesting to see - in physical form - how a movie is made. Sound, special effects, animation (each a former DHS attraction): they are nowadays made by some bearded post-hipster behind a computer. The main interesting aspect is what kind of bizarrely named coffee he will drink this day.

Just buy the Blu-Ray and you can get a better experience.

 

[Next Big Thing]

To follow up on your thought one more time @The Empress Lilly, It's quite the tragedy that so many damn parks around the world owned by either Disney or Universal are based on the concept of a "working studio". The theme never works and it's always fairly clunky.

Universal Studios Florida did a fairly decent job in the end (all these years later), but the studio aspect is still felt heavily in how narrow the entrance is and how ugly it is. You walk in and you just look down a street at some facades. Nothing iconic about it. And having big IPs at the front of the park like Despicable Me and Shrek don't help things either.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Yet today Georgia is a hub for filming, in some ways, bigger than Hollywood.

That is location filming, not studio filming and administration. The money isn't in Georgia, it's in Hollywood. In other words, Georgia is a nice place to visit but they wouldn't want to live there.

 

[Next Big Thing]

That is location filming, not studio filming and administration. The money isn't in Georgia, it's in Hollywood. In other words, Georgia is a nice place to visit but they wouldn't want to live there.

North Carolina had a booming STUDIO business before they went and passed a bunch of controversial laws. Many major motion pictures have been filmed at the Studios which I believe are in Greensboro.

Edit: It's wilmington and Disney has actually used it for Iron Man 3. They do mostly do TV shows though. http://euescreengems.com/wilmington-nc-studios/